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WILKINS UPDIKM 

AN ADDRESS 

TO THE 

PEOPLE OF RHODE-ISLAND 

UPON THE CLAIMS OF 

WILKINS UPDIKE, 

TO A SEAT IN THE 

i£ongre50 of tl)e llniteb 0tate0. 



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To the Whigs of the Western Congressional District. 



On Tuesday next an election is to be held in this district, to 
choose a Representative to the next Congress of the United 
States. Two individuals are in nomination — Wilkins Updike, 
Laio and Order, and Benja^rmi B. Thurston^ Democrat. — 
Tlie Whigs have no candidate, and it has become a question, 
Can any whig vote consistently for Wilkins Updike 7 Can any 
whig vote consistently for Be7ij. B. Thurston? 

Who is Wilkins Updike? and what has been his history? — 
Is he a whig — -a democrat — or a neutral? — To the people of 
this district, it would seem hardly necessary to go into a histo- 
ry of his political career. We know what he was: we have a 
right to know what he is. We know that Wilkins Updike 
was a steady friend and supporter of Andrew Jackson and 
Martin Va?i Buren, and throughout their administrations sup- 
ported them and their measures. Has he changed his opin- 
ions? When Andrew Jackson, by his open and palpable vio- 
lation of the Constitution, as the whigs then thought and still 
think, inflicted a wound upon the institutions of the Country, 
which will remain, as long as the Constitution endures, where 
was Wilkins Updike? Upholding his administration and de- 
fending all its measures! It cannot be forgotten, that he was 
considered the very beau ideal of Jacksonism, and he was so 
considered when that old and ultra democrat, Gov. Fenner, 
voted for Congress in 1833, ^l3^" Wilkins Updike, the only 
true Jackson candidate.'''' Dutee J. Pearce was not democrat- 
ic or loco foco enough for the ultra democracy of Gov. Penner! 
Wilkins Updike could only represent his views as the ^'■only 
true Jackson candidate.'''' Subsequently when the Govern-- 
ment, at home and abroad, was brought into discredit and dis- 
grace by the profligacy and corruption of Martin Van Buren, 
where was Wilkins Updike? supporting every measure of his 
administration and throwing every obstacle in the way of the 
whig party. This is in brief where Wilkins Updike was. 
Where is he noio ? has he changed his views upon national 
questions ? If so, when — how — and why ? Is it not a part of 
the creed of the party to which he belongs, that upon national 
questions no tests are to be required, and that as these Law 
and Order Democrats retain their opinion, and Law and Order 
Wlfigs theirs? If Wilkins Updike is a Whig, belongs to the 



2?^ 



3 

wbi- party, and is willing lo be considered a whig candidate, 
why IS he unwilling to take the name and trust to a lohig con- 
ivention ? Why is he nominated by a Law and Order Caucus, 
if he is really a lohig, and the Law and Order party is iden- 
tical with the -whig party ? If he is a whig and his party is 
really the whig party, why do they not give us some declara- 
tion ot>mi«i9^es to which they consider their candidate 
pledged > Why nominate him at a Law and Order Conven- 
tion > Did they pass any whig resolutions ? They have since 
dropped the title of Law and Order and call him the whig 
CANDID A.TE? V/ho made him the whig candidate? ihey 
have had whig meetings called, but who took part m these 
meetings, such whigs as Letnuel H. Arnold, James F. Sim- 
mons, William Peckham, Thomas Whipple, and others? or 
such WHIGS as 33- ^/is/ia R.Potter, John Broivn I rancis, 
Christopher Allen, and William Sprague ? 

You know, fellow citizens, that no true and tried friend ot 
the good old Whig cause, would or could take part m their pro- 
ceedings. But when they hold Whig meetings in na?ne, why 
not declare Whig principles ? Will any one show you the first 
resolution to that effect ? It cannot be done. Whig reso- 
lutions would drive off Law and Order Democrats, say I ot- 
ter Francis, & Co. " Send for Ames and Greene to talk 
Whig as much as you please— but nothing in black and 
white. That won't do." , n a 

Now I ask seriously, is the Whig party to be thus trifled 
with ^ ' Is it any longer to be under the influence, control, and 
dictation of a clique of Providence Pomcians—it^ bitterest 
and most determined enemies— or shall the real Whigs dissolve 
at once and forever all connexion with the unclean thing ? 
tr^Wm Sprague has said that Wilkins Upkms, shall be 
elected if he has money enough to do it .^Ji It is for you to 
decide whether this money power shall prevail over the good 
sense of the whole Whig party in the State. 

And on what ground do they ask you to vote for Updike. 
They have all at once become so much interested in the Whig 
cause that they say the next Congress may depend upon this 
single vote. They know this is not so. The Washington 
Union— Journal of Commerce, and presses of all political com- 
plexions admit that that question is settled, and that however 
this election may go, the H^^-Whigs are sure of a majority 
OF FROM 10 TO 20 in the next House of Representatives. c^B 
This is admitted, but you, fellow citizens will probably not be 
informed of the fact until after the election— because the only 
possible excuse you could h^vefoi votmg/or Updtke vjould then 
be withdrawn ! 



4 

We had in the last Congress a Whig Representative from this 
District, the Hon. Lemuel H. Ar?iold — why should he be turn- 
ed out to make room for such a Whig as Wilkins Updike ? We 
have had in the Senate of the United States for the last six 
years a Whig Senator p3^Hon. James F. Simmons. =:^ Why 
should he be turned out to make room for such a Whig as John 
H. Clarke ? Why should the whig party be in the hands of 
E. R. Potter and his associates, to the exclusion of such men 
as James F. Simmons and his friends ? When you can answer 
these questions to the satisfaction of any true, consistent and 
DEVOTED WHIG, you may vote for Wilkins Updike, but not till 
then ! 

Have you not had enough of such management ? Who did 
more than any man in the State — as much as any man in the 
Union to bring on the Mexican War, with all its horrors, 
wrongs and woes ? rCl^ELISHA R. POTTER ! the late Law 
and Order Representative /<=Cli When he voted for the AN- 
NEXATION OF TEXAS, he voted in effect to bring on the 
War ! When he wrote to Mattheio Waite that the annexation 
of Texas would be of more "advantage to the North than the 
South,"* he expressed an opinion which carried out, has i7i- 
volved us in this BLOODY WAR ! When he received the fol- 
lowing commendation from the Charleston Mercury, he was 
applauded for his attachment to the institution of Slavery. 
This ultra Southern, Calhoun, Slavery, War organ, thus speaks 
of the resolutions for the Annexation of Texas. 

n3^" The Resolutions you will see in the papers. They 
provide for admitting Texas as a State, leave Texas her debts 
and lands — provide for Texas being divided into several 
States, and adopt the Missouri compromise. 

"This, however, would have clearly failed but for the aid of 
nine Whigs. Their names are as follows. Messrs. Brown, 
Peyton, Ashe and Seiiter, of Tennesee ; Messrs. Clinch and 
Stevens, of Georgia ; Mr. Dillet, of Alabama ; Mr. Newton, of 
Virginia; and STRANGEST OF ALL, THE ONLY WHIG 
FROM THE WHOLE WEST AND THE NORTH, MR. 

* Extract from a letter from Hon. E. R. Potter, to Matthew Waite, Esq., 
one of the truest Whigs in the State. 

" Dear Sir — I hope our Legislature will not pass any resolutions against 
Texas, as the only sympathy we get is from the South ; and we shall need 
their votes to put down Burke's Report, and with their aid, which I have no 
doubt we shall have, we can do it. THE ANEXATION, IN POINT OF IN- 
TEREST, WILL BE MUCH MORE FOR THE ADVANTAGE OF 
THE NORTH THAN OF THE SOUTH. 

Yours, &c. (Signed,) E. R. POTTER. 

Washington, Jan. 11, 1845. 



POTTER, OF RHODE-ISLAND, voted in committee for if, 
although in the House against it. With the Democratic party 
the measure would have failed, althoitgh having near seventy 
majority in the House. The Northern and Western Whigs 
throughout stood in opposition to every proposition, to the great 
disappointment of the New York and Northern Democrats, who 
calculated on their aid to carry their project and defeat annexa- 
tion. The turning point teas the vote on Mr. Brown'' s amend- 
ment.^^ 

Now who is the most devoted and zealous friend to the elec- 
tion of Wilkins Updike? ri^^ELISHA R. POTTER !=CI5— 
Who gets up his meetings, advocates his election through the 
public papers, and vouches for his Whigism with Whigs, and 
for his Democracy with Democrats ? ELISHA R. POTTER ! 
Are you ready to take such a voucher — to rely on such an en- 
dorser. I trust not ! 

Are you, in a word, willing as WHIGS, to be responsible for 
snch a. Representative? It will he too late to repudiate him 
after he is elected ! If you vote for him. upon yourselves be 
the responsibility ! 

Again, fellow citizens, if Wilkins Updike was as true a Whig 
as ever lived, he could not receive my support, coming forward 
under the circumstances that he does, and nominated by the 
party that he is ! Are the real WHIGS to bear every species 
of insult and abuse, and wrong from the Law and Order leaders 
with a "patient shrug ?" Must sutference "be the badge of all our 
tribe?' Are we free, intelligent and responsible men, or are we to be 
nosed about by Francis, Potter, Sprague & Co., and have it 
thrown in our teeth that we may help ourselves if we can 7 — 
Are we capable of choosing for ourselves a candidate to support? 
Or must we follow the dictation of College Hill, through the 
mouths of their attorneys and humble servants,Ames & Greene i 
On Tuesday next you will decide whether you are your own 
masters, or are willing to be driven like sheep to the shambles 
by those who claim to control you ! 

If the political complexion of the next House of Representa- 
tives depended upon your vote, and I could believe either from 

the PAST HISTORY of WiLKINS UPDIKE, Or his PRESENT ASSO- 
CIATES, that he would be true and faithful to the Whig cause, 
I might be willing to sacrifice what I consider to be the true in- 
terests of the WHIGS of Rhode-Island, and give him my vote. 
But under existing circumstances I can see no possible excuse 
for any consistent Whig — for any friend of /«mes iP. Simmons, 
of Lemuel H. Arnold, or of Charles Jackson, thus to throw 
himself into the hands and power of their bitterest enemies !" 



1 need not say to yon, fellow citizens, that every means that 
importunity can beg, or money buy, will be used to persuade 
you to vote for Wilkins Updike. You will be told that James 
F. Simmons, Lemuel H. Arnold, Charles Jackson and their 
friends intend to give him their support. It is FALSE ! and 
you may depend upon it, not one of these tiled and faithful 
Whigs will be found in such company. 

For the above, and many other reasons I cannot give my vote 
for Wilkins Updike, and thus virtually admit that every prin- 
ciple for which the ti'ue Whigs of the State have for tlie last 
two or three years been contending, is unsound and worthless ! 
Will the Law and Order leaders give us any credit for magna- 
nimity, if we adopt their candidate ? Will they not rather con- 
sider us an unprincipled body of men, ready to be bought, or 
driven into any party that the money power may dictate ? 

What will the Providence Journal say, on announcing the 
election of Wilkins Updike, if he should be elected, even 
though you should be induced to vote for him; it will be some- 
thing as follows. — '' We have the gratifying intelligence to 
announce to our readers that the Hon. Wilkins Updike, the 
Laio and Order candidate,''^ (not Whigtheti) ^'- has been elected 
to Congress for the Western District, by Fifty majority over 
Benj. B. Thurston, Democratic. This result is peculiarly grat- 
ifying to the friends oftheL.S^ O. party, as Mr. Thurston re- 
ceived the silent or active support not only of his oivn political 
friends, hut of the disaffected supporters of Mr. Si'inmons, Gov. 
Arnold, and Gov. Jackson. We hope these gentle^neri have at 
last learned that they carinot break up the Laio and Order 
party, and establish the, so called. Whig party upon its ruins!^^ 
Such, fellow citizens, will be the language addressed to you. 
If you do not wish to hear it, see to it that Wilkins Updike, is 

NOT ELECTED ! 

I think you must be satisfied with me, that no whig can, 
under the circumstances, give his support to Wilkins Updike. 
Can you, with me, consistently, give your vote for Benjamin 
B. Thurston 7 

In what respect is Gov. Thurston more objectionable than 
Wilkins Updike 7 I do not contend that he is a whig. He 
is openly and fairly a member of the Democratic party. He 
has always opposed the whig party — but not more violently 
than John Brown Francis, Elisha R. Potter, Judge Wescott 
and others, who now advocate the election of Updike ! He 
never belonged to the Law and Order party, it is true, but we 
doubt whether he ever did as much for Dorrism as Williatn 
Spraguc, John H. Clarke, or Mr. Updike's very particular 



and zealous friend Mr. Emanuel Rice ! ! He did not, it is 
true, join the Law and Order party during the Dorr rebellion : 
and it is equally true that lie did not ofter to give tC^FlF- 
TEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS toivards carrying on the Ex- 
press Newspaper in the city of Providence, to overthrow the le- 
gal Government of the State, as William Spragne did /^^ 

He never, that Ave know, favored whig conventions, neither 
did he ever, as John H. Clarke did, when Sprague was defeat- 
ed for Senator, swear that there ^^ should never be another 
WHIG CONVENTION in the State /" 

We have no doubt Gov. Thurston would go with the Dem- 
ocratic party on mere party questions, but farther than this we 
do not believe. We know him to be a friend of the Tariff, 
an opponent of Slavery, and in favor of the " Wilmot Proviso.^^ 
Do we know as much of Wilkins Updike ? 

But the main reason why I shall give my vote to Benj. B. 
Thurston is, that without injuring the whig cause, it will 
teach the so called Law and Order party that the true whigs of 
this district cannot be kicked, cuffed, whipped and bought by 
all the MONEY or threats of all the Francis'', Potters, and 
Spragues in the State, and that I prefer an open opponent to a 
treacherous, deceptive, and I may say malicious and corrupt 
ally! 

When Gov. Arnold was a candidate for Congress, Governor 
Thurston gave him his support, and secured his election. 
Without that support, Gov. Arnold could not have been chos- 
en. He did this, because he knew that a vote for Arnold was 
a vote against the Law and Order party, and not because he 
was in favor of a whig. He knew that the situation of par- 
ties in the House of Representatives at Washington would not 
be varied by the election of a whig member from the western 
district. For similar reasons, and because the whigs are sure 
of a majority in the next House of Representatives, let this 
election go as it will, I shall cast my vote for Benja- 
min B. Thurston. In so doing, I feel that I shall 
confer the greatest benefit upon the real interests of the whig 
party, by aiding in the overthrow of the most corrupt and ve- 
nal party, that ever disgraced this State under the ^/onows, but 
much abused title of Law and Order. 

In what has been said, I have avoided any notice of the pri- 
vate characters of the candidates presented for your suffrages. 
It is with their political and public coarse that we have to deal, 
and far be it from me to lift the veil that covers the traits of 
their private lives. If it is true as his enemies say, that Wilkins 
Updike is untrue to the solemn pledge he has openly given to 



8 

the Teniferance cause — if it be true that he is illiberal in his 
religious sentiments, and believes no man can be a Christian 
who does not belong to the Church of England,* — if it be 
true that he is coarse, violent and abusive in his political and 
professional course, — so much so that there is scarcely a man 
in the District who has not at some time felt the venom of his 
tongue, — if all these things be so, they are no affair of mine, 
nor do I urge them against him. Let him stand or fall by his 
political opinions ; bearing always in mind, that in political as 
well as other matters, a man shall be judged by the company 
which he keeps ! 

Fellow citizens, I have detained you too long. Again let me 
say to you, if you value the Whig cause — if you would avenge 
the wrongs and injiiries manifested towards such Whigs as 
James F. Simmons, Lemuel H. Arnold, and Charles Jack- 
son — if you would administer a wholesome rebuke to such 
whigs as John Brown Francis, Elisha R. Potter and Wm. 
Sprague, VOTE AGAINST Wilkiiis Updike! To remain 
inactive will not be sufficient. Every vote will be needed to 
defeat him — and with your votes it can be done ! When that 
event is accomplished, the self constituted leaders of the Law 
and Order party may admit that there is some influence yet left, 
beside their own — and that they cannot longer trample upon 
the rights, and insult the feelings of the old, steadfast and faith- 
ful friends of the Whig Cause. 

A TRUE WHIG. 

* Id^ "Among the inhabitants of Exeter, West Greenwich, and other 
TORY TOWNS there were no EPISCOPALIANS." History of the Narra- 
gansett Church, by Wilkins Updike, pp. 245. J3] 

How do the people of these ancient towns like this slur upon the memories of 
their patriotic ancestors .' Were their fathers TORIES as Updike asserts ? 



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